Home News What's On Annual Poll Photos Forums DJs Features Music Venues Reviews Links

Features Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022!

10 minutes with Pendulum Reported by Tara / Submitted 20-06-08 19:41 It was a sunny May Monday afternoon at 4.26 when I managed to get my 10 minutes with Pendulum. Like so many things in life it was all a bit last minute, with the HarderFather giving me but a couple of hours notice, but once things were confirmed I legged it down to one of my favourite clubs — Fabric — by 3pm as requested, where the boys from Perth were launching their new album ‘In Silico’ in associated with Xbox LIVE. Running slightly late, at least I was safe in the knowledge that no matter how big my weekend may have been, it was nowhere near as massive as Pendulum’s at Radio 1’s Big Weekend the previous day… Indeed, from all reports of the May 11 Radio 1 Big Weekend, Pendulum’s live set totally smashed it, with Zane Lowe describing the tent as he introduced them as “packed to capacity” and Annie Nightingale saying they “got the biggest reaction of the whole weekend” when she spoke to them afterwards. Seeing them interviewed afterwards the guys looked slightly shell-shocked — as you would after flying 39,000 miles over two months as they claimed to another Radio 1 interviewer! Check out www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend/2008/artists/pendulum/ for footage of the Radio 1 Big Weekend and interviews. So who are these dancefloor saviours who’re packing out and rocking festivals around the globe? Starting out playing in thrash metal bands in Perth pubs, school mates and producers Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen hooked up with local DJ legend Paul ‘El Hornet’ Harding after Gaz took Rob out to his first d&b night. Fresh and Maldini of Bad Company were playing — and it must have been a bloody good set because it literally changed their lives. Otherwise known as Ancenic and Speed, the guys had played in Perth band Xygen, while El Hornet had been a big name on the Perth club, rave and festival scenes. Tinkering around in the studio and combining their various influences, Rob, Gaz and Paul hit upon a sound loosely described as drum & bass. Their first big track, ‘The Vault’, caught the attention of Kiwi d&b crew Concorde Dawn, and soon the likes of Ed Rush, Andy C and Doc Scott were thrashing it. It was their second track ‘Another Planet’ that made it into the hands of Fresh however, the accidental instigator of this sound, who in a series of coincidences as cyclic as the crop circle-like artwork later used for new album ‘In Silico’, quickly signed it for his and Adam F’s Breakbeat Kaos label. Music journalists the world over have been trying to describe this ‘sound’ ever since: is it “futuristic d&b”? “Sci-fi hip hop”? Whatever, anyone who has heard a Pendulum rift more than a couple of times will recognise the phenomenon and go through the agonising process of trying to get it out of their head. ‘Neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh, Neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh’… not only did they come up with some of the catchiest rifts in dance music, they injected some much-needed fun and energy back into the scene, in between making the awesome ‘Hold Your Colour’ album, which sold over 225,000 copies. The single ‘Slam’ stole a place in the Top 40 (and now has over three million views on YouTube, with the great line: ‘But tonight, on this small planet on earth, we’re going to rock civilisation…), helped lead to a world tour, Radio 1 coverage, and perhaps the ultimate honour for any dance music producer, a personal invitation from Liam Howlett himself to remix Prodigy’s ‘Voodoo People’. With world domination but a step away, the guys then decided to raise their game even higher and form a live band. With Rob on vocals/synth, Gareth on bass/DJing and Paul DJing, they recruited Perry ap Gwynedd on the guitar and Paul Kodish on drums — well trained for the job after drumming with techno junglists Apollo 440 back in the ’90s, who supported U2 on their Pop Mart tour. Ben Mount was also added to MC and add that crucial live vocal element. Now some would say everything in life is as cyclic as the ‘In Silico’ album cover, and today this was surely the case, for just a matter of months earlier Fabric had been the site of one of Pendulum’s first live sets ever. And I must confess, that on that very night after queuing in the cold for well over an hour with my very drunken friend and her even more drunk and obnoxious French boyfriend (despite or perhaps because of being on the house list), by the time I got in to what I’d built up to be the Mecca of live d&b, I was sorely disappointed to find something more resembling an Australian bogan rock gig, crowd surfers and all. Being an Antipodean bogan at heart I finally managed to get into the last 20 minutes or so of their set, but overall the experience had left me unfulfilled, though fortunately curious enough about the whole d&b live band thing and its obvious wide appeal…. hell it was the biggest queue I’d seen in a very long time, there had to be something good going on there even if I missed it at its peak! Since then I’d got hold of a CD of ‘Granite’ and got addicted to that darn rift and their out of this world energy. But I digress. With enough questions for a 30 minute interview — partly thanks to a last minute plea on the HF messageboards — I headed back to Fabric six months later, armed with 1G on my camera and 1G on my phone for plenty of pics of the boys playing games, for as well as signalling the launch of Pendulum’s new album ‘In Silico’, we were gathered to celebrate the new Xbox LIVE. With memories of my last Pendulum Fabric gig, I was also wearing my bogan black singlet: it was after all a very hot day. Fortunately there wasn’t a queue of any description by the time I finally got to Fabric just after 3pm, and the uncharacteristic London heat meant I was happy to go underground to the air-conditioned bowels of one of the world’s top superclubs on a beautiful hot sunny day. There I was greeted by Nik from JCPR — part of the company responsible for putting this LIVE extravaganza together — who was most apologetic but assured me that the boys were on their way. Now in Australia and New Zealand it is generally considered rude to turn up to a good party too early, so I figured all was as it should be and got to know my fellow gonzo journalists. In fact, we were almost thrown together, for as the time ticked on and the organisers got more anxious, HarderFaster and DSI were put together for what could have been one of the funniest face-offs of the year. However, while we were laughing about the infinite possibilities offered by an HF vs DSI vs Pendulum vs Xbox LIVE interview (with no photos mind, for it transpired that none were allowed), the PRs saw sense and gave us the choice of 15 mins combined or 10 separate. With the best interests of HF in mind, we all opted to do our own thing. Finally the band rocked up, and despite the obvious excesses of the previous day, churned through the other gonzos in true rock ‘n’ roll style. The atmosphere in the room was electric; they spoke so enthusiastically. Soon, it was finally our turn and I was introduced: “Hi guys, sorry we’ve got, um, HarderFaster. I think it’s a website.… and this is Tara.” It’s quite intimidating walking on in in front of the whole crew and I’m so nervous I go and sit on the couch with the band, but fortunately the guys are friendly (“Ohhhh! A kiwi in the place…”), and break the ice chatting about the South Island, where I’m from. They sensibly suggest that sitting opposite them would be a better way to ask my many questions, and wishing I’d taken proper advantage of the free alcohol at the bar, we get cracking. Pushing the Antipodean connection, I start one of Adam Symbiosis’ questions from the HF forums, for I’m also interested in how, with bands like Pendulum, Shapeshifter and Concrete Dawn coming over from Australia and New Zealand, do they reckon the Antipodean sound differs from the more tradition UK d&b sound? “At the moment it’s because we’re introducing a lot of rock elements into it, a lot of instrumentation, vocals and melodies and stuff, rather than being monotonous kind of dance music.” “Yeah, proper melodies, rifts and proper structure, rather than rolling out 4/4…” “But we build it in a way in a way that you can still DJ it, it still fits well into a DJ set.” With so many different elements infused onto tracks like the first single off ‘In Silico’, ‘Granite’, I ask Adam Symbiosis’ second question: what drives and influences their sound? “At the moment, whatever we’re listing to and whatever we’re feeling, past present and future.” “Also the crowd’s reaction on the night really!” Given that this is the launch party for the new album, I’m also curious about the creative process the guys have just gone through. As old school mates, Rob (vocals, synth, producer) and Gaz (bass, producer, DJ) have been working together for many years now. Does this make them a finely tuned instrument in the studio, or else more like an old married couple, who’ll keep bickering until they get it right? Gaz is quick to answer: “A bit of both I think. Especially with this recent album. We tended to go in circles a lot.” Ah, those pesky circles again. “But I think that was mostly due to pressure we put on ourselves to get it right.” The rest of the band (well other than Rob who’s off taking a moment) agree. “Our manager actually bought a cattle prod!” “We had to get our management involved eventually to push us past that finish line.” “You need to speak to Rob about that. He’s in charge of the whole thing, he’s the main brain behind it. He’s the head honcho, as we say!” I’ve heard ‘Granite’ mixed into tracks at gigs from Wellington, New Zealand to North London warehouses, including at psy trance and hard dance gigs, and I’m not alone, for one of the questions Jack Van Challis asked on the forms is whether they expected their tracks to be played at so many hard dance events? Did they expect their tunes to have such a huge crossover appeal? As Paul Kodish describes it: “When I first heard the band, I heard ‘Hold Your Colour’ I thought it sounded like a band playing! That was kind of it really…” The rest laugh. “Then he just kept coming over to our house until we agreed to play with him. And that was it really” “Yep”, Kodish agrees, “Here we are! We got out of the bedroom!” Surely one of the bands’ biggest honours is being handpicked by Liam from the Prodigy to remix ‘Voodoo People’ and they’re also playing alongside them at the Summer Sound System. A question from Davor Kai: Do you reckon you’ve got the potential to be bigger than Prodigy? Kodish is again quick to reply: “Well no, they don’t come out of the d&b school for a start. They came from more of the techno sort of rave kind of thing. But they probably mixed it with rock too… but that was 15 years ago you know!” The others chip in. “They mixed it with punk! They’re punk rockers!” “But there’s definitely a bit of a punk attitude going on with some Pendulum stuff,” I interrupt. “If you go to one of your live gigs there’s people crowdsurfing, headbanging, and a bit of a punk vibe!” “Prodigy though,” they protest. “That’s a really big call! They’re an instrumental influence, especially when we were young. They’ve achieved a major thing! Way beyond what we’ve achieved so far. It will be really good going to play on the same line-up though!” Pendulum have of course achieved so much already, having reached the Top 10 in the UK dance charts (and since this interview, the singles and albums charts) and described by Eddie Temple Morris as “the best thing to happen to d&b!” I wonder, where to from here? “Alright! Nice one Eddie!” “A lot of touring for the next 30 years… A lot of touring!” Much hilarity errupts. “30 years?! Another 30 years! Ahhhhhh!” Since Paul Kodish is sitting directly opposite me waving with his drumsticks around, I pose a second question from Davor Kai: does the drummer get much pain from overuse of his wrists? The Aussies get in quick: “He wanks a lot! Mwhahahah.” “Nah,” Kodish quickly retorts. “I’ve been playing jungle beats since jungle began in 1989. I used to work for a record label called Reinforced and the main man there used to give me what he called gangsta reggae. So we used to check out these gangsta reggae beats and that was really it. I’ve been playing those beats for however long that is now. It’s just a natural thing for me!” “That’s why we hired him — he’s the human breakbeat.” “That was a long time ago!”, Kodish continues. “And Perry as well! He’s built for speed!” “But I can’t play D&B!” Perry speaks up. “I got Perry into it!” Kodish claims. “Perry used to play stuff for Bad Company. He’s been heavily involved in the d&b scene, with Grooverider as well.” It transpires that Perry actually played on ‘Hold Your Colour’ before the guys even thought of putting a band together. As Perry describes it: “I put the guitar into drum and bass!” “Yeah”, the rest of the band laugh. “He put the ‘G’ in drum & bass! Drumganthbass! That sounds like a Welsh word!” Conscious of time running out and the long list of questions in front of me, I ask another from Adam Symbiosis: do they ever compare themselves with other bands that do the crossover thing with dance music, like Infected Mushroom? “Nah. Only Led Zeppelin! Not electronic music.” That’s one thing they all appear to agree on. “The only reason we’re compared with Prodigy is because they’re the only ones who play their music with guitars and synths that really effects people.” “It’s a bit deeper than that, they’re a band who came from a really closed insular underground dance genre and then got a bit bigger and started introducing more elements into it and they got into it… and I think we’re kind of following a kind of similar path. I think that’s why people are drawing conclusions.” I throw in another of Adam’s questions, for vocal tracks like the radio friendly ‘Propane Nightmares’ have led to comparisons with bands like Linkin Park and Muse. “Oh no! What!” The band don’t seem so keen on this one, but I push the point: how do they think the rock and d&b thing crosses over? “I think it’s a lot about technology. That’s probably the main thing…” But mention of Linkin Park has obviously struck a nerve: “No, I don’t get that at all. I don’t get the whole Linkin Park thing at all. Especially not Linkin Park.” I apologise for winding them up. “It’s OK, we’re doing a gig with them this Summer! Let’s challenge them to a fight on the radio!” It’s definitely time to change the subject, so I recall how last November DJmag called them “space age d&b renegades” in their cover feature. What do they think of that? “Wicked! That’s wicked!” But what do they reckon it actually means? “It’s wicked! That’s what we’re all about — we like stuff that sounds futuristic so that’s cool! Kodish agrees: “We eat technology for lunch! If something new comes out and we buy it, we use it then throw it in the bin then try and move on before everyone else gets into it.” The others nod in approval. “Space age is good! There’s a theme of, like, Pendulum is very out there, another galaxy, another planet, you know what I mean, another atmosphere. Outer space, that’s what it’s all about! It’s all about escaping. Space age is the one.” “Apparently they’ve hired us on the moon”, Kodish laughs. “It’s true, what are you laughing at?! Prove me wrong!” The PR team sign that I’ve one more question, so I have to put a stop to the hilarity and get serious again. With so many awesome festivals coming up over summer, other than playing on the moon of course, is there anything else they’d like to plug? “For the record we’re not playing on the moon. Apparently there’s no atmosphere there!” “We can’t wait for the festivals. The good thing about festivals is that it’s not your usual crowd. They’re not an audience who’s specifically there to see you. So if you can win them over, then job done.” “We’re looking forward to Rock Ness.” “I’m looking forward to Download cos I want to see the other bands.” “And the Glade as well…” The PR team are madly gesticulating to my right so it’s time to finish things off and with the Glade being mentioned, I ask if they’ve seen that on the Glade Facebook site, there’s a few psy trancers asking what the hell Pendulum are doing on the Glade line-up? I wonder what do they think about that?! “They’d better bring some spare underwear I’m telling you!” “My brother does the psy trance stage, he’s Liquid Records, so they invited us! The Glade’s awesome! I’ve been to every single one of them and they’re amazing, I enthuse. “Well it was a bit muddy last year, but it’s a good time! Brilliant! The people who run the Glade are really cool, really good fun!” And with that our 10 minutes is up. Later that evening it’s back to Fabric for a live launch of ‘In Silico’, which well and truly rocks. In fact, the only other time I’ve seen Fabric that pumping was at Pendulum’s first gig there. Tracks like ‘Granite’ and ‘Voodoo People’ have the entire dancefloor jumping up and down in unison, and again, the atmosphere is electric. On the day of this interview, ‘In Silico’ was released and went to No.2 in the UK album charts. It’s since sold over 100,000 copies and thus gone gold, while ‘Petroleum Nightmares’ peaked at No.9 on the UK singles charts. Pendulum’s next single release ‘The Other Side’ is due out on July 28th and will be launched at a special iTunes Festival gig at Koko on July 28th. Tickets for the gig are available exclusively to competition winners through the festival website at www.ituneslive.co.uk/win-tickets/?date=2008-07-28 Pendulum are now touring the UK and Europe, with sets coming up at Wakestock (Oxfordshire, 27 June; Wales, 4 July), Wild in the Country (Knebworth, 5 July), Zoothousand Festival (Kent, 5 July), the Oxegen Festival (Ireland, 12 July), T In The Park (13 July), the Dour Festival (Belgium, 17 July) and the Glade Festival (Reading, 18 July) as well as playing Download, Creamfields and Reading/Leeds. I guess by now they’ve started playing with Linkin Park and Jay-Z at Projekt Revolution ;-) Personally, I can’t wait to see them play again at the Glade. I’ll be the one up the front in the black bogan singlet. And quite possible my gumboots… Dance music chart toppers Pendulum played an intimate, exclusive gig at Fabric (12 May 2008) to launch their new album ‘In Silico’ in association with Xbox LIVE. They are the latest act to offer exclusive content to gamers who can now download music videos straight to their Xbox. For more information about Xbox LIVE check out: www.xbox.com For more info on Pendulum and their forthcoming gigs check out: www.pendulum.com For more info on Paul Kodish check out: www.paulkodish.com For more info on the Glade Festival check out: www.gladefestival.com Thanks to Nik of JCPR and Xbox LIVE. Photos courtesy of Matt Dahl and raving_pixie from the HarderFaster archive. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Tara: Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden Telling Cosmic Tales with DJ Strophoria Tom Psylicious aka EarthAlien takes 50 Spins Around the Sun: Raising Awareness Through the Power of Music The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable. Comments: From: Hanky on 22nd Jun 2008 12:14.00 these guys are fucking awesome. am loving some of the fresh deebee around at the moment. these guys and london electricity are all over my ipod. From: ~deleted5662 on 23rd Jun 2008 08:09.24 These guys are awsome live and were the best band at Download IMO. It's good to read in their interview they seem like nice guys. From: carl on 23rd Jun 2008 15:29.42 lol, concrete Dawn From: Tara on 11th Jul 2008 22:33.23 Oops all fixed now ConCORD Dawn are playing at Herbal tonight (Friday 11/7) at the 10 years of Sudden Def Recordings party if anyone sees this in time!

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. All other content is (c) 2001-2024 HarderFaster.

Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement | Text Mode